LONDON: Doctors Without Borders has accused a controversial aid initiative in Gaza of enabling the systematic targeting and killing of civilians, it was reported on Thursday.
In a scathing new report, the medical charity — also known by its French acronym MSF— said aid distribution centers run by the US and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation had become sites of “orchestrated killing.”
Raquel Ayora, one of the charity’s general directors, said: “In MSF’s nearly 54 years of operations, rarely have we seen such levels of systematic violence against unarmed civilians.
“The GHF distribution sites masquerading as ‘aid’ have morphed into a laboratory of cruelty. This must stop now.”
The group is calling for GHF’s operations to be scrapped immediately and replaced with a UN-led system. It has urged governments and donors to “suspend all financial and political support for the GHF.”
In a report by Sky News, the channel contacted both the GHF and the Israel Defense Forces for comment. In an interview on Wednesday, IDF spokesperson Nadav Shoshani dismissed the allegations, claiming: “I think that is completely false,” and described some reports of shootings as “fake news.”
Between June 7 and July 24, MSF says it treated 1,380 people wounded near GHF aid sites at two of its clinics.
Among the injured were 71 children, 25 of them under the age of 15. The charity said 28 people were dead on arrival.
Among the cases were an 8-year-old girl shot in the chest, and a 12-year-old boy hit in the abdomen. The charity described several injuries as precise and deliberate.
“The distinct patterns and anatomical precision of these injuries strongly suggests the intentional targeting of people within and around the distribution sites, rather than accidental or indiscriminate fire,” the report stated.
Gunshot wounds recorded at MSF’s Al-Mawasi Clinic showed 11 percent struck victims in the head or neck, while 19 percent were to the torso. In Khan Younis, injuries to the lower limbs were more common.
One patient, Mohammed Riad Tabasi, said: “We’re being slaughtered. I’ve been injured maybe 10 times. I saw it with my own eyes, about 20 corpses around me; all of them shot in the head (and) in the stomach.”
The report also documented 196 injuries caused by stampedes or chaos during aid distribution. One woman died of likely asphyxiation in a crush. Others, MSF said, were beaten or robbed after receiving food.
The GHF took over much of Gaza’s aid provision in May after Israel ended an 11-week blockade. But the operation has drawn mounting international criticism. A previous Sky News investigation linked GHF-led aid drops to spikes in fatalities, and UN officials have condemned the system as “death traps.”
UN experts this week called the program “an utterly disturbing example of how humanitarian relief can be exploited for covert military and geopolitical agendas in serious breach of international law.”
They reiterated calls for Israel to restore access for UN agencies and humanitarian nongovernmental organizations.
MSF echoed the demand and directly urged the US to end its support.
“Despite the condemnations and calls for dismantling it, the global inaction to stop GHF is baffling,” said Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa, MSF’s emergency coordinator.
The IDF maintains that humanitarian access is not being obstructed. “There is no limit of aid getting into Gaza,” Shoshani said. “Every day, hundreds of trucks go into Gaza.”
Israeli officials argue the GHF model prevents supplies being stolen by Hamas and ensures they reach civilians directly. Steve Witkoff, the US’ special envoy to the Middle East, last week toured one of the sites.
“We’re putting up money to get the people fed,” US President Donald Trump declared at the same time.
